Go Fund Stacey Pegum

I first met Stacy right after we moved back to Iowa.

Photo Credit: J Shirk Photography

I was nervous that it would be awkward. We were both massage therapists and had opened practices in our small town just months apart. I was the new business on the block- quite literally, we practice on the same block- and was expecting some level of cattiness, competition, or just plain bitchiness to honest. I expected not to like her and more so, expected her to not like me.

We laugh about this now.

Stacey and Don

I had no reason to be concerned, we became fast friends- discussing career goals, business tips and sharing both the frustrations and joys of our growing practices. We’ve rejoiced in each other’s personal triumphs and sorrows as well, and there have been plenty of each.

Watching her become mom after years of infertility and a wife to a wonderful man after a tough divorce has been one of the great joys in my own life. We see each other less now, with two busy massage practices, two husbands, and five kids under the age of seven between us, but she is always close to my heart, always someone I could call for anything, at any time and I can only hope that she feels the same about me.

1 year old SusannaGrayson, now 3

Cancer is a fucking bitch.

Stacey is hands down one of the kindest, most generous and compassionate people I have ever met. This is not to say she is a pushover. Mess with her family or friends and this Mama Bear will unleash a level of crazy like you have never seen. Which I fully expect to see her do now.

Stacey has beaten both polycystic ovarian cancer cells and pre-cancerous ovarian cells, and now she may be facing a rare form of the disease. She goes in tomorrow to have the first of two procedures to remove and biopsy growths from her liver and thymus. She’ll kiss her little ones goodbye, she’ll be strong for her husband and family, because even now her main concern is how this illness will impact them. And then she’ll go into surgery and wait for the results that will will impact everything for the rest of her life.

Go Fund Stacey

It will be awhile before her medical team even knows what they are dealing with, so far her illness hasn’t fit neatly into any known diagnosis box and it is almost certain that there will be more surgeries, biopsies and testing in her future. What I can tell you for sure is that she and her young family could use your support right now, that she is unable to work and that the medical and travel expenses will pile up quickly, that the last thing they should have to be thinking about right now is how they are going to survive financially.

And so I’m asking you to visit Stacey’s Go Fund Me Page www.gofundme.com/staceypegum, to consider a financial donation and to please forward your love, prayers and support to her and her family. They could use every bit of it right now.

Kel, I just sat here and bawled. I suppose I needed to. As always perfectly written. Stacey is simply amazing.

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I'm Kelly, mom, wife, business owner, writer, aspiring day drinker, avoider of housework.
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